8. Scheduled Delusions #3
The bracelet box sat exactly where I had left it.
Ten minutes earlier, I had been admiring the diamonds and thinking about the speech I would give Piper when I finally found her. I had pictured her rolling her eyes at the price, telling me I was ridiculous, maybe letting me fasten it around her wrist anyway.
I still held the petition.
The handler lowered his tablet.
“Mr. Callahan?”
I looked down at the first page one more time.
Piper had not been waiting for me to come after her; she had already started ending our marriage.
The petition slipped from my hands and landed on the coffee table beside the bracelet box.
For a second, the two objects looked obscene together. One held the gift I had convinced myself would help repair my marriage. The other carried Piper’s name beneath words that said she was trying to end it.
The handler watched me.
“Sir, talk to me. What happened?”
“The party’s over.”
He looked from the papers to me. “I need more than that before I cancel anything.”
The tablet lit up again in his hand. Another message appeared, followed by another before the first notification disappeared.
“Sir? What is it? We need to get downstairs. Reid is texting me that the CEO is asking for you.”
I stared at the first page of the petition.
“Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.”
The words had not changed.
Neither had the address beneath Piper’s name.
Florida.
Four months of waiting for her to return, and she had been building enough of a life somewhere else to put that place on court papers.
“It’s my wife,” I said. “She wants us to get a divorce.”
The handler stopped looking at the tablet.
I pointed toward the papers. “Cancel the reception and call the pilot. We are flying to Florida right now.”
He stared at me. “Florida tonight?”
“Yes.”
“You’re scheduled here through tomorrow.”
“Not anymore.”
He rubbed the edge of the tablet with his thumb and took a step toward me. “Mr. Callahan, I understand that this is personal, but we cannot just cancel the rest of the launch. The CEO is downstairs. Reid has distributors who flew in from three countries.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will when the contract team starts calling.”
I cut him off.
“No. I won’t.”
The room was still set up for the man I had been an hour ago. A fresh suit waited in the bedroom. The bracelet sat on the table. Downstairs, Reid had probably arranged my seat, my conversations, my exit time, and whatever version of me he wanted the executives to meet.
Piper had arranged something too.
A lawyer.
Court papers.
A life with an address I had never known.
The handler checked the tablet again.
“Reid is going to stop this the second he finds out.”
“Then don’t ask him.”
He looked up. “Sir?”
“Call the pilot. Tell him we’re leaving.”
“I can’t authorize a flight change like that without notifying Reid.”
“You work for me too.”
His expression tightened. “Technically, I work through the agency.”
That would have mattered yesterday.
Maybe even an hour ago.
Now all I could picture was Piper driving south while I boarded a plane for Seattle because my father had told me chasing my wife would reward bad behavior.
“Your wife wants you to chase her.”
Reid’s voice came back with miserable clarity.
“Your mistake right now would be treating this like an emergency.”
I had listened.
I had taken his advice and left Piper alone until she had enough time to find a lawyer.
The handler shifted closer to the table. “We can get through the reception, and then I can have legal contact her attorney first thing in the morning. That gives everyone time to understand what she’s asking for before you make a decision that could affect the season.”
“She already made the decision.”
“You don’t know that yet.”
I pointed at the petition. “It’s written down.”
He looked at it, but went back to the tablet when another message arrived.
“Sir, Reid is waiting for you downstairs. He will fire both of us if you leave without his approval.”
That sentence should have worked.
For years, Reid’s approval had been the hidden condition beneath almost every choice I made. Which endorsement mattered. Which interview I took. Which photograph was harmless. Which promise to Piper could survive being bumped for business.
I crossed into the bedroom.
The fresh suit lay waiting across the bed.
My travel bag sat near the wall where staff had left it after check-in.
The handler followed me to the doorway. “Mr. Callahan, please think about what you’re doing.”
I reached down and grabbed the bag.
“I have been thinking about the wrong things for four months.”
“If you walk out now, Reid is going to turn this into a war.”
I swung the strap over my shoulder and faced him.
“I don’t give a damn what Reid said, or who he fires. You get that plane ready right now, or I will find my own way to the airport.”
He stood there with the tablet pressed against his side.
I walked past him into the living room.
The petition stayed on the table beside the bracelet. I left both where they were.
I walked out the door and chose Piper over everything waiting downstairs.